The Word became flesh and dwelt among us, as stated in John 1:14, highlighting the essential truth of Christ's full humanity. The sermon addresses historical heresies like Docetism and Apollinarianism, which denied Christ's true humanity, and contrasts them with the orthodox understanding that Jesus is both fully God and fully man. It emphasizes that Christ's humanity, including his weariness, thirst, hunger, agony, and death, was real and necessary for our salvation, allowing him to serve as a perfect High Priest and the second Adam who brings life. The core lesson is that Jesus became a man, taking on the form of a servant and emptying himself of the privileges of deity, not his deity itself, to redeem humanity.
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Turn to John's Gospel tonight, chapter one. And we're going to read just one verse, only verse fourteen. John's Gospel chapter one, verse fourteen. We're continuing our study in the subject of the humanity of our Lord. And that very familiar verse, and the word was made flesh and dwelt among us. and we beheld his glory the glory is of the only begotten of the Father full of grace and truth and of course the word of John one verse fourteen is the word that he's spoken of in verses one through three in the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God the same was in the beginning with God all things were made by him and without him was not anything made that was made.
So we find that the Word was co-eternal, co-existent, and co-extensive with the Father, according to verses one through three. And in verse fourteen we read, and the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us, tabernacled among us, and we beheld His glory. The glory is of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. Let's pray together. Our Father, we thank you for our Lord Jesus Christ. We thank you that the Word became flesh and tabernacled among us.
We have no idea when it comes to the past history of the Son of God what it was like before the foundation of the world, before he became flesh. One thing we know is going to be glorious, to be like him in a coming day. But when we think of what thy word reveals concerning what it will be to be like him, causes us to reflect on what it must have been before he came. And we're so thankful tonight that he came and that you so loved the world, that you gave your only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have eternal life.
Now, Father, open our understanding, calm our hearts in thy presence as we seek to speak of the greatest theme in the whole of the universe, thy beloved Son. and may we speak rightly. May the words of our mouth and the meditation of our heart encourage one another as we meditate upon him, the one who is God, manifest in the flesh. Meet with us for the Lord Jesus' sake. Amen. Tonight I'd like to begin by asking the question, who is our Lord Jesus Christ.
That's a good question. Who is he? We sing sometimes at Christmas, you remember, that hymn with ten stanzas in it. Who is he in the understall, at whose feet the shepherds fall? Tis the Lord, O wondrous story. Tis the Lord, the King of glory. At his feet we humbly fall. Crown him, crown him. O Lord of all. And I love that tenth stanza. Who is he who from yun throne rules through all the worlds alone? Tis the Lord, O wondrous story. Tis the Lord, the King of glory. At his feet be humbly, Paul.
Crown him, crown him, O Lord of all. I love every stanza in between, too. And I'm not going to quote them all because I don't know them all. Morton Luther said that the right way to come to a proper understanding of Jesus Christ was to begin with his humanity. Now, many people, when they hear that statement, they react and they question the truth and suggest that, oh, it's much more important to begin with his deity. Now, the Word of God manifests both, that he is both God and and man.
Jesus of Nazareth is fully God and fully man. And that both his divine and human natures are united in one person and are absolutely essential to the gospel. And if they're essential to the gospel, the two natures of our blessed Lord are essential to our salvation. Now this morning we noted the real and the total humanity of Jesus has not always been accepted by everybody. First, as we noted this morning, there were the dosages who believed that our Lord only appeared.
He did not have a true body. They held that all matter is sinful. and therefore for our Lord to have a body, it meant that he was a sinner. And what they were doing was going way overboard to try to protect the deity of Christ. And that subject is answered in the first epistle of John as well as in the first chapter of Colossians. And while we didn't go into Colossians chapter one this morning, We were in first John chapter four, verses two and three, and also in second John, verses seven through ten. But John answers in the opening words of the first epistle, that which was from the beginning, which we have seen with our eyes, and which we have handled, our hands have handled of the word of life.
He attacks the problem in the first verse of his first epistle. And this first epistle of John is written to the family of God, declaring two things concerning the person of Christ. There are two great themes in first John. Number one, God is light. And number two, God is love. And in order to understand that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all, And that God is love. And that God has manifested his love in the person of his beloved son. We come down to the humanity of our blessed Lord.
Now, then in the fourth century, there was Apollinarius. I didn't mention him this morning. Apollinarius, he was quite orthodox in everything else that he believed. In his theology. But he became derailed over the issue of Christ's humanity. He believed that the root of sin was in the human spirit, so that if Christ was divine, which he believed, again he stressed the deity of Christ. If Christ was divine, as he believed, he could not have possessed the human spirit.
So he became derailed in his thinking. concerning the person of Christ. In effect, he taught that Jesus had a human anatomy, but he didn't have a human psychology. To him, Christ was soulless, not a true man. And then Utaitianism, as we noted this morning, was condemned by the Synod of Constantinople in but it can still be found today. A form of Eutychianism can be found today. And Eutychianism is mono-physseism. That's a hard word for me to say.
And it just means mono, meaning one, and physseism means nature, or one-nature-ism. And it can be found today. If you read the writings of Mary Glover Patterson, Baker Eddy, In her book, in her miscellaneous writings, she said Christ is incorporeal. This view is neither Christian nor is it scientific. And she was a mother of Christian science, as we know it. They always are talking about the writings of Mary Baker Eddy. Now the Christian view of the humanity of Christ was articulated well by that great preacher, Charles Haddon Spurgeon.
This is what he said, and I'm going to quote what he said. We can never forget that Jesus Christ is God. The church has given forth so many valiant confessions of his deity, and woe be to her should she even hesitate on that glorious truth. Yet sometimes She has need to insist earnestly on his humanity. And that's why I'm taking up the humanity of Christ. You and I are living in a day when Hollywood and the movie industry have sought to portray Christ in certain movies called Godspell and Jesus Christ superstars.
but they are perversions rather than portrayals. That's what they are. The same is true of all so-called pop presentations. You can't reduce Jesus Christ to plastic. It's impossible to do it. I remember what a good friend of mine said on the radio as he was preaching out of Hagerstown, Maryland. back when I was I think it was about the first year that my wife and I were married it was back to the early nineteen fifties and this is what he said and because the movie came out Sampson and Delilah he made the statement and I remember it so well he said for a Hollywood star to try to portray the precious things of the Word of God, knowing the lives that they live, it is wrong.
And Christians should not support the industry. And how true that is, when I think of the moral character of Hollywood, and they try to portray the events of Holy Scripture. And you and I need to turn to Holy Scripture to find a genuine article. And we read about it tonight in John one, verse fourteen. The word, the eternal word that was with the Father, co-eternal, co-extensive, and co-equal with the Father. The word became flesh and tabernacled among us.
Now, if I had time, I'd have a three-point sermon tonight. but I'm only going to have a one point. The other two are going to have to wait till next Lord's Day morning. And my one point is this. Jesus became a man. I want you to remember that. Those words, Jesus became a man. John one, verse fourteen is one of the most sublime statements in the whole of Scripture. A corresponding passage is in Philippians chapter two, and we're going to turn to that because it's a passage that just about everybody knows.
Philippians chapter two, beginning at verse five. It's one of the great passages concerning the condescension of our blessed Lord. I always have to think when I use that word condescension. Because we had a young brother preach in Lebanon one time. And every time. And he used that word. He wanted to use that word condescension. And he said condensation every time. And it's not going to rain tonight. It's condescension. Our Lord stepping down from his exalted position. Verse five. Let this mind be in you.
Which was also in Christ Jesus. Who being in the form of God. thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men. And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore God also has highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow of things in heaven and things in earth and things under the earth and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father in verse seven of this second chapter we read in our King James translation he made himself of no reputation if you have an American standard translation, a new American standard Bible, you read the words, he emptied himself.
This text in Philippians chapter two gave rise in the nineteenth century to the so-called Canosis theory. And this Canosis theory is with us today in various parts. and it's good to know what is taught by them. This theory taught that at his incarnation, when our Lord became a man, Jesus forfeited some or all of his deity or some of his divine attributes.
That's basically what was taught. Now there is no biblical support for this idea that the eternal deity of our Lord was in any way reduced or marginalized when he became a man. The meaning of Philippians two, where it says he emptied himself, it is not that he laid aside his deity. What our Lord laid aside, beloved, was the uninterrupted enjoyment of the privileges that he enjoyed from all eternity with God the Father and God the Holy Spirit.
And you and I can never fathom, nor can we imagine what that enjoyment was. The true meaning of these emptying can be seen by the words he took taking the nature of a servant in the glory he was served by an innumerable company of angels they served his every bidding but he became a servant when he became a man he could say as we read in the gospel by Matthew even as The Son of Man came not to be ministered unto.
Kings are ministered unto. He was a king. But the king, but he came not to be ministered unto, but to minister. To be a servant. And the word diakonos is in that word. Which is the word from which we get our word deacon. The Greek word diakonos. He came not to be ministered unto, but to minister. and to give his wife a ransom for many. And he says, and that word there is spoken to us who would be servants, who should be servants, for it says, even as the Son of Man came not to be ministered unto.
And those two words, even as, apply to us that we should be as he was. And first John chapter two and verse Or verse six says, If we say that we abide in him, we ought also so to walk even as he walked. So the emptying of our blessed Lord can be seen in the words he took the form of a servant. Let me put it simple. He emptied himself.
He emptied himself. by taking on something. Isn't that strange way of putting it? He emptied himself by taking on something. To Cossack Gnosticism, or not Gnosticism, Kinnaticism, the Cossack thing equals God minus. But you said, but Scripture teaches us that through the incarnation of Christ, it is God plus. Not God minus. It's God plus. And we come back to our original question.
Who is our Lord Jesus Christ? You see, Jesus is eternally the Son of God. But something was added in the incarnation. He is now not only the Son of God, he is also the Son of Mary. Years ago I preached in a church in northern Lebanon County on in a friend of mine, Brother Fred Laurie. He was a graduate of Dallas Seminary and we were good friends and I spoke there quite a number of times and I spoke one night in the Jonestown church on the subject of things that are in heaven that weren't always there.
And the first thing that I used as I spoke on that subject, there's a name there now that wasn't there before. The name Jesus. That name was not in heaven before our Lord ascended back. That name was given to him when he came to earth. And the incarnation doesn't mean God minus. It means God plus. Thou shalt call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sin. Now, if somebody is a wise guy, and they say, well, the name Jesus is simply Joshua of the Old Testament.
And they ask the question, wasn't Joshua in heaven? And you know, if you ask a question, you always want to defend what you say. And I'd have to say, now you have to defend the fact that Old Testament saints were in heaven before our Lord arose from the dead, an empty paradise which was in the heart of the earth. So you have a tougher job than I have. So the real thrill of the whole thing is this, that there's a name in heaven that wasn't always there. The name Jesus. Oh, what a name that is.
You see, he not only, he became something he was not. As Athanasius said, fifteen hundred years ago, at the Council of Nicaea, he said, he became what he was not, while he continued to be what he always was. And I love that. Our Lord in the Incarnation became what He was not while continuing to be what He always was. When Jesus came to earth He added humanity which He never had before to deity and the deity He always had.
The passage we examined this morning Let us read part of it again. Turn over to Hebrews chapter two and notice the very words that are written concerning the incarnation of our Lord. Verse fourteen of chapter two Hebrews, where we read, For as much then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself, likewise, Isn't it amazing the lineup of words there that we don't miss what he's saying? He himself also likewise took part of the same that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death that is the devil and deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetimes subject to bondage.
In other words in order that we might be delivered from the bondage of sin and from the bondage of death into the glorious liberty of the sons of God with all the privileges that that entails in the future when the body is raised from the dead he also himself likewise took part of the same in other words it's a way of saying that the son of God became the earthly son of Mary. Well, the Word of God presents Christ as the second Adam. And in the fifth chapter of the Romans, you have that great contrast between Adam number one and Adam number two.
Through Adam number one came death. Through Adam number two came life. Through Adam number one came unrighteousness. Through Adam number two came the gift of righteousness. which is ours to share and which he shares with us. Verse seventeen of Romans five says, We who have received abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one man, Jesus Christ. So let me contrast Adam number one and Adam number two. The first Adam had a beginning but no birth. The Adam number two had a birth but no beginning. I tell you it's thrilling when you think of who our Lord Jesus is.
Adam had a birth, had a beginning, but no birth. Adam number two, our Lord Jesus Christ, had a birth, but he had no beginning. Unto us, the child is born, unto us, a son is given, and he shall be called wonderful counselor, the mighty God, the everlasting Father, and the Prince of Peace. was his real mother. Mary supplied the unfertilized egg which established his genetic relationship with a human family. Conception took place when God the Son entered that egg and took upon himself everything that was involved in the word becoming flesh.
How did that happen? I don't know. It's a mystery. As we sing occasionally in Wesley's great hymn, his mystery all. Let earth adore. Let angel minds inquire no more. In my favorite Christmas carol, the second half of the second stanza, veiled in flesh, the Godhead seed, Hail the incarnate deity. When I sing that, the chills go down my back. Pleased as man with man to appear, Jesus, our Emmanuel here, part the herald angels sing.
Glory to the newborn king. The word flesh. The word became flesh. The word flesh when used in connection with our with the incarnation of our Blessed Lord. It means more than blood, bone and tissue. It means everything that is involved in becoming totally human. You see, there is nothing sinful in human nature per se. Let me say that again. There is nothing sinful in human nature per se.
Adam and Eve were not sinners before the fall, either in nature or in practice. But Adam and Eve were human before the fall. They were human before the fall, but they were not sinners before the fall, in either nature or practice. And our blessed Lord, when he was here on earth, He came through with blind colors, that awful testing body enemy in the wilderness. And we're going to take up the temptation of our Lord as we, in this subject on the humanity of Christ.
We're going to take up the subject as it relates to Israel in the wilderness, in the book of Deuteronomy. For it's from Deuteronomy that our Lord quotes. in Matthew and in Luke where we have the account of our Lord meeting with the enemy in the wilderness. So beloved, we must keep these things in mind when we think of the humanity of our blessed Lord. Now we want to notice and examine how the Bible makes this point about the sinlessness In the incarnation of the Son of God.
And I invite you to the book of Romans. Romans chapter eight. And verse three. And the very words and the way in which the Spirit of God speaks through the word. Romans eight verse three. For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh. God sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin condemned sin in the flesh. Notice those words, sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, in the likeness of sinful man, to put it in another way.
Jesus was not sent as a man. could imply something sinful. He was not sent as a man. Furthermore, he was not sent either as a sinful man, for he certainly wasn't. He was pure, holy, undefiled, and separate from sinners, even though he mingled with sinners. This man receiveth sinners and eateth with them. You remember, Brother Stan Ford. That man could preach the gospel. And I enjoyed listening to Brother Stan Ford.
He was ready to meet Joe Lewis as a champion of the boxer of the British Isles when God saved him. And years passed as Stan became a guru and was preaching, and Stan had to undergo some surgery. And he heard that when a person is under pentothal, sodium pentothal, they often say things in the operating room that they wish they wouldn't have said. And that things come out that, and he lived a very wicked life. And Stan was so worried that some of the old things that he used to do when he was living for Satan and for the world, the flesh and the devil.
And when he was in the recovery room and he came to his senses after the surgery, he said to the nurse, he said, did I say anything while I was under penethal? Oh, yes, he said, you did a lot of talking. Oh, he said, what did I say? Oh, he said, you just kept saying, this man receive a sinner and eateth with him. Oh, what a blessing. Here's a man whose spirit has been made alive in Christ. But our Lord, you see, he was not sent as a man that could imply a sinner. He was not sent as a sinful man, for he certainly was not.
But our text here says he was in the likeness of sinful man. In other words, he was a real man. He looked like another man looked. He walked like another man walked. He ate like another man ate. He looked like other human beings on planet Earth. When our Lord came to Earth, at the incarnation, the sinless Son of God became a member of sinful humanity. yet he remained untainted by his sin.
That's what we learn in Hebrews seven. Such a high priest became us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens. And to add that word from Philippians two, at the name of Jesus, Every knee shall bow, and every tongue confess that he is Lord to the glory of God the Father. Now Mary, the mother of the Lord Jesus, was a sinner, and she confessed her trust in God my Savior. Luke chapter one in verse forty-seven, where she said in the Magnificat, My soul doth magnify the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior.
How did all this happen? I tell you, I don't know. I just believe it did. And that the Word of God is accurate. For the Word of God tells us in First Timothy three-sixthes, one of the great three-sixthes of the Bible. It says, without controversy, great is the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh. The Word became flesh. and tabernacles dwelt among us and we beheld his glory. In other words, we can add this. From the moment he entered his mother's womb, everything about the humanity of Christ fell within normal, natural parameters.
Mary kept him the full term. The time came that she should be delivered. As we noted this morning from John four, verse six, he was weary. Verse seven, he was thirsty. Luke four, he was hungry. Matthew twenty six, he experienced agony. John chapter nineteen he died and then we speak about the gospel we speak about the fact that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures and that he was buried and that he arose again the third day according to the scriptures and when you think of the burial of Christ he shared the common end of all humanity He was buried.
That brings us to application number one. There is only one tonight. And that application is there. There is a man in the glory to none on our behalf. And he is there today because of who he is. And he had to be who he was to do what he did. If Jesus Christ is not true God, then he could not accomplish our redemption. Furthermore, if he is not true man, he could not meet my need. But he had to be who he was to do what he did.
And he accomplished salvation for everyone who will ever believe in him. And he could say, Him that cometh to me, I will in no wise cast out. You know there's a great hymn in our hymn books. We won't sing it. But I love to sing it to myself occasionally. And in the shower, and my wife can hear it, no matter where she is in the house. Jesus, what a friend for sinners. Jesus, lover. of my soul.
What a hymn. And the chorus. Saving. Helping. Keeping. Loving. He is with me. To the end. And the word became flesh. And dwell among us. And we beheld his glory. The glory is of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. You know, beloved, if you and I are saved by the grace of God, and I like that expression of Roy tonight when he spoke of the marriage of David.
He was saved from bachelorhood by grace, just as we were saved from sin by grace. Well, it's a different kind of grace, I'll tell you. But I love that expression. I like that. But the thing is this, if we're saved tonight, there's a man in the glory. Occasionally I quote that poetry to myself. There's a man in the glory I know very well. I've lived with him for years and his goodness can tell. One day in his mercy he knocks at my door and seeking admission knocked many times off. I've lived on with him now for a number of years, and that's why I have neither dottings nor fears, for my sins are all hidden in the depths of the sea.
They were cast away there by the man on the tree. And we can add some other good poetry to it and say, Oh, joy of the justified, joy of the free. I'll sing of my Savior who died on the tree. Through Christ my Redeemer, rejoicing I stand. being saved by his grace I'm secure in his hand that's it our father we thank you tonight for who thy beloved son is we can hardly imagine in fact we can imagine we can't begin to imagine what the word he emptied himself really means nor can we imagine What the words mean that he took the form of a servant.
But we realize it was for us. And it was that we might ever have a place by him. And oh Father, when we realize to a small degree how great is our wondrous Savior. What he was in eternity past What he became when he was born, we marveled that anyone could love the likes of us so much. And tonight we sang, My sin, O the bliss of this glorious God.
My sin, not in part but the whole, is nailed to the cross. and I bear it no more. Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, oh my soul. Dismiss us with your blessings. And may the fragrance of just meditating upon who thy dear son is go with us through this week and bless our souls as we meditate upon him for Jesus' sake. Amen.